Pages

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Blood Orange - Cupid Deluxe

Dev Hynes has multiple guises, but he’s probably best known
under the moniker Blood Orange for his work with Solange Knowles on her ‘True’
EP (as well as the recent Flatline from
MKS). Yet on ‘Cupid Deluxe’, his second
album as Blood Orange, he’s worked with a number of guest vocalists including
Caroline Polachek of Chairlift, Samantha Urbani from Friends and rapper
Skepta. What’s missing, though, is a
certain Knowles sister.

‘Cupid Deluxe’ is a true showcase of Hynes’ ability as a
producer. His idiosyncratic production
is polished to an impossible sheen and follows on from his previous work with
breezy pop melodies, Balearic beats, funk basslines, noodling guitars and synth
washes. The first half in particular
contains some brilliant tracks, gliding in smoothly on lead single Chamakay’s hazy waves and Polachek’s
fluttering vocal. It’s followed by You’re Not Good Enough, a mid-tempo
groove of funk guitars and a strutting bass; the quietly up-tempo Uncle Ace and its sun-dappled textures; the
light, falsetto vocals of Dave Longstreth from Dirty Projectors on No Right Thing; and the shimmering,
percussive ballad It Is What It Is. The sound of ‘Cupid Deluxe’ frequently stuns.

Yet the sound mostly expands and consolidates his previous work
– whilst the album often thrills with its outstanding production, it rarely
surprises (except, perhaps, for the hip-hop tracks Clipped On and High Street). With no real star-power holding the album
together, interest swiftly wanes in the second half suggesting this may have
worked better as an EP.

The missing link?
Solange Knowles. Sure, Hynes may
have established his sound first, but it’s now become so deeply ingrained with
Solange’s recent work that for most of ‘Cupid Deluxe’ we’re left waiting for
her slinky vocals to arrive. It’s clear
that their relationship is a musical symbiosis: Hynes provides the vision,
Solange provides the spark.

Hynes’ production work is exemplary, something that ‘Cupid
Deluxe’ only reinforces in abundance on every track. As an album in its own right it falls a
little short, but as a précis to Solange’s next album (not to mention MKS), it’ll
do very nicely.